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Jeopardy! Timeline (syndicated version)/Pilot 2
Pilot 2 (January 9, 1984) Custom Pic of the Jeopardy! 1984 Pilot.png * The second and final pilot is announced by Johnny Gilbert, who becomes the full-time announcer for Jeopardy!. The show will make its syndication debut on September 10, 1984 with the episode Greg/Lois/Frank. in Season 1 Premierie Like January 1 1984 * The set is redesigned by Henry C. Lickel. It is now consisted of a neon band appearance in yellow, red and orange with orange carpeting. The contestant podiums now display names in monitors surrounded by yellow and brown padding. The Jeopardy! logo changes its color to a Helvetica-style font, but is still displayed in red on a navy blue background. Nine-foot orange neon letters reading Jeopardy! become the set's centerpiece; these are displayed in the "Gyparody" font, derived from a prototype face that is one of URW++'s many digitization from the film font era. Each letter now turns off and flashes one at a time left to right during the introduction and going away and coming back from commercial breaks. * Johnny Gilbert's opening catchphrase looks similar to Jay Stewart's, but unlike Jay Stewart, Johnny Gilbert gives the contestants' occupations before telling where they're from. In the "These three contestants..." line, "contestants" is changed to "people". * Johnny Gilbert introduces Alex Trebek by saying, "And now, here is the host of Jeopardy!, Mr. Alex Trebek!", similar to how original Jeopardy! and longtime Saturday Night Live announcer the late Don Pardo would introduce the late Art Fleming and his contestants as "Mr." as well as "Mrs." * Although this Jeopardy! episode never actually aired, it appears to have a returning champion named Jack Campion, who previously appeared in Pilot 1 and numerous other game show pilots from the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Blank Check (1975), Second Chance 3rd pilot, 1976, Card Sharks 1st pilot, 1978, Sale of the Century (1982) and Press Your Luck (1983). Campion is stated by Johnny Gilbert to have won over $17,600 in cash winnings after two matches. * At the beginning of the show, Alex Trebek explains the game using a very similar spiel to that given by the late Art Fleming. The main theme is now a rendition of "Think!", which carried over into the actual series. * Alex Trebek's podium is now consisted of a Jeopardy! logo. The contestants' scores changed to vane display, which carries over into the actual series and remains until November 2002. * The game board gets its first permanent look, they no longer used the pulling cards, so the game board is changed from the pulling cards to 30 television monitors, so they started using the television monitors to display the clues and the dollar amounts. The television monitors consisted of a red frame with yellow padding around them. Categories are now back-lit on cards above the television monitors. The categories are written in black Helvetica Condensed text on yellow backgrounds. * The clue monitors, for their part, use white Korinna font on blue backgrounds, a motif which remains to this day. The dollar values are doubled to $50-$250 for the Jeopardy! segment and $100-$500 for the Double Jeopardy! segment. They now appear on screen with a whooshing sound and a globe effect, and then pop in onto the screen, initially using a whirring sound effect. * They are still displayed on black backgrounds, but the text used for them is now white, and is changed to Hector Regular, a font which carries over into the actual series and remains until 1991. * The Daily Double card changes to white Gyparody letters against a blue screen. * The transition effect for going away and coming back from commercial breaks is the camera shot shattering into pieces which then move off screen coming out as well as onscreen going in. * The time's up buzzer at the end of each segment sounds just like the all-strings piece from the shower scene in Psycho, but uses horns, rather than string instruments. * Contestants now write their Final Jeopardy! responses on an electronic tablet using a light pen, a practice which carries over into the actual series. * The contestants' responses and winners initially display onscreen on blue rounded rectangle boxes with red frames. Like the displays of clues on the monitors, the onscreen display of the Final Jeopardy! segment is changed to Korinna, which carried over into the actual series and remains until 1996. * The Final Jeopardy! segment display also changes color, from yellow to white. * Johnny Gilbert's closing catchphrase looks just like Jay Stewart's, but instead of "King World, Inc." Johnny Gilbert said "King World Productions." * The Merv Griffin Productions logo is in the style of the Merv Griffin Enterprises logo used on 1984-1993 episodes, featuring an illustration of a griffin a Greek mythological creature with the wings and head of an eagle, and the body, hind legs, and tail of a lion in a sky blue-framed stained glass box with the sky-blue text "MERV GRIFFIN PRODUCTIONS", all on a black background. * The KingWorld closing card is the text "KING WORLD PRODUCTIONS, INC." appearing in the center, in white center-aligned Helvetica text on a navy blue background. Like Wheel of Fortune Jack Clark in November 1983 * The exact taping date of this Jeopardy! pilot is never actually aired, but it is believed to be in December 1983 and January 1984. The show will make its syndication debut on September 10, 1984, with the episode Greg/Lois/Frank. * One of the clues is about Lech Walesa's wife accepting the Nobel Peace Prize December 10, 1983, and a picture from another pilot, in which Cynthia was the returning champion, appeared in an issue of the magazine originally titled Broadcasting, which is later changed to Broadcasting & Cable, which is published in January 1984. Category:Jeopardy! Category:Timeline